David Michôd's 'Animal Kingdom' Dominates The Australian Film Institute Award Nominations

By
Simon Dang
|
The PlaylistOctober 27, 2010 at 1:29AM

'Beneath Hill 60' And 'Bright Star' Also In Strong ContentionThe Australian Film Institute has announced their nominations for the 2010 Awards, with David Michôd's crime drama "Animal Kingdom" taking home a record-breaking 18 nominations, at least one for every category which it was eligible for, and Jeremy Hartley Sims' war film "Beneath Hill 60" and Jane Campion's John Keats drama "Bright Star" not too far behind with 12 and 11 nods respectively.

'Beneath Hill 60' And 'Bright Star' Also In Strong Contention

The Australian Film Institute has announced their nominations for the 2010 Awards, with David Michôd's crime drama "Animal Kingdom" taking home a record-breaking 18 nominations, at least one for every category which it was eligible for, and Jeremy Hartley Sims' war film "Beneath Hill 60" and Jane Campion's John Keats drama "Bright Star" not too far behind with 12 and 11 nods respectively.

Michôd's Sundance starrer scored nominations in the Film, Direction, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Sound, Original Score, Production Design and Costume Design categories as well as earning acting nods for James Frecheville, Ben Mendelsohn and Jacki Weaver as leads and Joel Edgerton, Guy Pearce, Sullivan Stapleton and even Laura Wheelwright in support -- pretty much every actor with a major role except Luke Ford's Daz. Interestingly, Weaver was nominated in a leading role whereas the film's U.S. distributors Sony Pictures Classics will likely push her as supporting.

"Beneath Hill 60" and "Bright Star" were also major successes with nods in most of the major categories including nominations for the film's respective leads Brendan Cowell and Abbie Cornish. Other notable nominations include Julie Bertuccelli's Cannes closer "The Tree" for Film and Direction and Charlotte Gainsbourg and Morgana Davies as Lead Actresses; Stuart Beattie's "Tommorrow When The War Began" for Best Film; and Clive Owen in the Lead Actor for his role in Scott Hick's "The Boys Are Back." Nods were also handed to Sam Worthington, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Simon Baker, Ryan Kwanten, Toni Collette, Mia Wasikowska and Naomi Watts in the International Acting categories.

Winners will be announced in a ceremony on December 11th in Melbourne. A full list of nominees is below, courtesy of Encore.